Boomi highlights business thought leaders, the trends they see, and the remarkable things they’re doing. We also get their hot takes on pizza integrations.
Think about any time you have a question when trying to accomplish something. It could be that you’re trying to fix something around your home, looking for the best ingredients to cook a particular meal, or figuring out what plants thrive best in a garden. You need quick, knowledgeable answers.
“Everyone has a favorite place where they go for how-to information, whether it’s Reddit, YouTube, or Google,” Amy Weatherby said. “With the Boomi Community, we’re trying to better enable our users with answers to their questions about the platform.”
Her team member Brad Detlefsen added, “If our community had a tagline, it would say, ‘We’ve got you.’”
Weatherby and Detlefsen are key people behind Boomi’s active community of more than 300,000 Boomi users who take advantage of a vast library of free, self-paced training and certification programs, thousands of articles and forums, as well as live and virtual events.
As the Director of Community and Customer Marketing, Weatherby oversees teams that drive engagement for Boomi’s global user base. Detlefsen, who focuses on the customer journey, is one of Boomi’s most recognizable public faces as a leader in training, events, and user groups.
Their work is all designed for customers to become more self-sufficient and more easily unlock the platform’s full potential. They took time to explain the “stronger together” concept that powers the community, some of the resources offered by Boomi, and why the ideas of connection and resilience are important to them. We’ve lightly edited portions of our conversations for length and clarity.
Tell us about what you each do.
Amy Weatherby: I lead our community organization, which consists of our online knowledge base, forums, training/certification, and events and user groups. The community as a whole is for our users to grow and achieve their business outcomes using Boomi. That’s important to me because I’m a competitive person. I used to compete and coach in college rowing. I want to win, and I want our users to win. So, when you have a business goal you want to accomplish, the community is a place where you can get the knowledge to do it. That’s what I get most excited about: seeing people using Boomi and achieving those wins.
Brad Detlefsen: I report to Amy and personally lead three functions. I head our training content, events and user groups program, and instructor-led training team. The common thread through all these is user-facing knowledge content and engagement. I really love the concept of connection. The way I connect with people is by teaching.
What makes Boomi’s resources different from those of other vendors?
Brad Detlefsen: Everyone talks about our technology, the value of the product, and what it can do for your business. That’s all true. But I also think one of our differentiators is that sense of community. It really sets Boomi apart. If I’m a do-it-yourselfer, the last thing I want to do is call somebody and wait for the support team to get back to me and solve the issue when I might have been able to do it myself. The community provides a self-service way to help you figure it out. Also, the great thing about Boomi is that whatever you buy today isn’t all that you’ll have available tomorrow because there’s so much innovation happening. Because it’s constantly changing, we provide the interface so you can learn and grow.
Amy Weatherby: You can do so much with the Boomi platform. There isn’t just one use case that will apply to everyone. When you have a really flexible technology, you need to talk to other people to know how to use it best. Similarly, if there are a hundred ways to do something, you might be doing it in a way that works, but maybe there’s a better way. You don’t learn that without looking over someone else’s shoulder and asking them questions about how they got to the same outcome, but maybe a little easier. You need a community to help you learn best practices and how to use the platform more efficiently.
What should people know about the training available with Boomi?
Amy Weatherby: Before you’re even a customer, there’s so much you can do within the Boomi Community, and you can get started with e-learning anytime. Part of your evaluation journey can be taking some courses. This gives you access to a platform training account, where you can complete activities. This is a real differentiator of our training. Almost every course is hands-on, and the quality of the training is exceptional. That helps people move fast.
Brad Detlefsen: We pay attention to how the user experience fits into the customer journey. At a macro level, the customer evaluates vendors, maybe goes through an RFP (request for proposal), and then chooses Boomi. But the user journey doesn’t really kick in until they need to be trained, post-sale. Our team has the resources to help at every stage of that journey, especially to help get you started and figure out the lay of the land. Everything we do is about making that journey better and easier, from teaching about all the tools in the toolbox to showing you the next steps of building something with them. We’re all about taking care of you at the user level.
What’s something that most people might not know about you?
Brad Detlefsen: I wrote a LinkedIn post about my experience with multiple sclerosis. There’s very little knowledge publicly about MS, which was my situation when I was diagnosed. But I’ve adjusted my life. There are things I have to watch out for now. Running is very difficult. Nerves don’t work as well when you get hot. So, I have to be careful. It’s largely an invisible disease. If you met me in person, you probably couldn’t tell.
We did an event in Boomi about invisible disabilities and how people would like to be treated. I said that if you’re interested in how somebody is doing, politely ask them, “What’s going on here?” Having this disease has allowed me to have such a strong sense of connection with so many people by having those kinds of discussions about whatever they’re going through. I’ve learned that you can start a real connection if you’re a little vulnerable, are kind, and let someone know with dignity that you care about them.
Amy Weatherby: Something that I’m most proud of is being resilient. I always strive to manage setbacks and be good at picking myself up, keep going, and finding another way. Maybe it’s because I’m a little stubborn or because I was in team sports. I just made it a habit to be the first person to get back up and help people do the same. It’s something that I also really admire in others: that ability to come back from something.
We’ll end with a fun question. Do you have a favorite pizza “integration?”
Amy Weatherby: I’ve been really into Buffalo chicken pizza. There’s also something here in Boston called South Shore Pizza. If you order it “laced,” that means the cheese goes all the way to the edge, and I always order it “extra crispy.”
Brad Detlefsen: If I’m taking this question literally, it’s probably this one I built as a demonstration for one of my training sessions.
Up Close With Amy Weatherby
Home: Dorchester neighborhood of Boston
Role: Director of Community and Customer Marketing
College: Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, where she was also a four-year varsity rower; Master of Science in Administrative Studies from Boston College; MBA from Boston College Carroll School of Management
Career: Before her four-plus years at Boomi, managing a team of instructional design and domain leads, Amy was a strategic program/project manager at Dell Technologies and the Associate Head Coach for the women’s rowing team at Boston College
Something about Amy: Active in CrossFit and likes sewing/making clothes
Up Close With Brad Detlefsen
Home: West Chester, PA
Role: Customer Journey and User Events Leader
Family: Wife Roseann; son Julian (12)
Education: Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Notre Dame; Master of Engineering, Systems Engineering from Penn State
Career: Nearly a decade at Boomi; previously held engineering roles in the space and defense industry, including at Lockheed Martin, The SI Organization, and Vencore
Something about Brad: Was in the bagpipe band at Notre Dame
Discover resources designed to help you make the most of your Boomi investment in “The Boomi Blueprint for Customer Success: Your Guide to Boomi Enterprise Platform Adoption Resources.“